Mar-A-Lago Visitor Logs To Become Public, If They Exist

President Trump with Chinese President Xi Jinping at Mar-a-Lago in April.

Jim Watson
/ AFP/Getty Images

Originally published on July 17, 2017 2:32 pm

A government watchdog group says it has won a battle with the Trump administration, which will turn over visitor records for the president's Mar-a-Lago residence.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington says it will publicly release the visitor logs upon receiving them by Sept. 8.

"The public deserves to know who is coming to meet with the president and his staff," CREW Executive Director Noah Bookbinder said in a statement.

Since becoming president, Donald Trump has spent some 25 days at his Florida resort, according to a New York Times tally.

While there, he has entertained some high-profile guests, including Chinese President Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

But it's unclear who else Trump has met with.

Democrats have tried to force the issue, introducing legislation titled the "Making Access Records Available to Lead American Government Openness Act," aka the Mar-a-Lago Act.

CREW Communications Director Jordan Libowitz says the scope of the Mar-a-Lago records is unknown, "but finding out is part of why we brought the suit."

CREW, along with the National Security Archive and the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, has also sued for visitor logs at the White House and Trump Tower. The Department of Homeland Security says it has no records of visitors at Trump Tower. The suit for the White House visitor logs is ongoing.

The administration cited "the grave national security risks and privacy concerns of the hundreds of thousands of visitors annually" earlier this year in its decision to reverse the Obama administration's policy of releasing the White House logs.